Grandads bike

[TIMM996]

Hi, I have this picture of him on his bike, any idea at all what it is.
He also has some time trial medals from it.

Many thanks...

[R]

What country is this likely to be - England ?

Having the magneto behind the engine like that is fairly unusual, certainly in the 1907ish-1910/11 time span that this bike is going to be from.

The letters on the magneto chain cover look to be EMA, maybe someone can shed some light on that, or what they actually are.

Great pic, motorcycling back then was a real adventure, so your grandad was a seriously serious enthusiast. !!

[cardan]

It's a slightly unusual bike - could it be something like an Alldays & Onions (don't laugh!) of 1910/11? This was the company name, but I think the bikes were called just Alldays, or sometimes Alldays Matchless.

The motor looks to be a Precision - by 1912 Alldays had their own motor with enclosed valves.

If you let us know your grandfather's name, and the events in which he participated we may be able to add more.

Cheers

Leon

[wetdog]

i had a alldays @1912 roc hub live axel , the tank was round (bit like the bsa) , alldays are one of the oldest engineering companys in the world , i also had the alldays allon two stroke , both where good machines and the rear hub gave no problems , unlike the sturmy archer fitted to my humber

[TIMM996]

Thanks, i t does look like a precision motor, but yes confused by the rearward magneto.
The tank logo i am trying to photograph but its blurred.
I must dig out his medals...just moved house and everythings lost.
His name was JH Wood from Stanley Co Durham UK.

[JFerg]

The bike looks new in the photo.  And if the dog is anywhere near the size of the kennel, the bike will be safe.

JFerg

[cardan]

There's the answer in your photo: DENE written on the magneto chain case.

Somewhere there is a surviving DENE (teens, or just post WW1, with a JAP twin, I recall), but I don't recall seeing a advert or an article on a machine like this. A very small manufacturer I expect.

Leon

[TIMM996]

Leon,

Top man, I found a photo of a dene in beamish.. its the same. Made in Newcastle, it all ties in. I   just need to get to Beamish now havent been for a few years now and its only a couple of miles from Stanley where we lived....  Thanks for solving this mystery.

[cardan]

My pleasure. Note that the survivor looks to be both larger (a "Big Four" rather than a 3 1/2 h.p.), and a year or two newer than your grand-dad's machine.
The photo below comes from the Motor Cycle in July 1911 and shows your grandfather with a group of riders on Dene-Precisions in one of the local trials. If you email me or send me a personal message with your email address I'll send you some other snippets. The archive of the Motor Cycle's photos still exists: it might be possible to get a clean copy via the Classic Motor Cycle magazine.

Cheers

Leon

[TIMM996]

I found his brother ( the bikes) on the beamish site too.


Dene Motorcycle
1913 Dene Motorcycle (nearside view). Sturnmey Archer 3 speed chain-cum-belt gearbox, ML magneto, B & B Senspray carburettor.